Wednesday, November 28, 2012

The high-fives, toasts, hugs, kisses,
and dancing have abated somewhat since the historic election on November 6 when
Maryland voters supported Question 6 and thus, marriage equality, by over
127,000 votes.As we turn the calendar
to 2013, many of the state’s estimated 17,000 same-sex couples will tie the
knot.Cheers to them all!

This was a surprising outcome becausenever had marriage equality been favored by
statewide votes until last month’s election.(We know, of course, that Maine and Washington also made history on that
glorious night as did Minnesota in turning back a constitutional amendment that
would have banned same-sex marriage.)

One of the issues that dominated the
conversation following the signing of the Civil Marriage Protection Act and the
inevitable referendum attempt in Maryland is race.We were told from the Proposition 8
experience in 2008 that African-Americans’ opposition to same-sex marriage was
a huge factor in upholding the measure that denied gay and lesbian couples the
right to marry in California.

Later analyses from exit polling and
other data pointed to a different conclusion.While more African-American voters in California supported Prop 8 than
were opposed, the differential would not have impacted the ultimate result
given the percentage of African-American voters in California is smaller than many
other other states, especially Maryland.Regardless, post-Prop 8 assessments indicated there was inadequate
outreach to the African-American community—a lesson learned.The chief contributor to the Prop 8 debacle
besides outside money, we found out, was not the black vote but seniors.

Nonetheless, marriage equality
advocates in Maryland largely marketed their campaign towards black voters who
were expected to comprise around a quarter of the total voters. Though polls showed greater support among
African-Americans, advocates did not rest on those numbers. The plan was to win over as many persuadable
African-American voters as possible to mitigate the number of opponents who
have strong religious beliefs against homosexuality and follow the preaching of
influential church leaders.

Presenting the testimonials favoring
marriage equality and its connection to fairness from two leading black pastors
in TV commercials and web videos was a smart tactical decision.This followed the public endorsements from
President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Biden and former
President Clinton.Also joining in was a
key endorsement by Benjamin Jealous of the national NAACP, civil rights icon
Julian Bond, Rev. Al Sharpton and several local celebrities—an cache of
big-name supporters the Prop 8 advocates lacked.

In addition, there was a solid grass
roots effort, helped out by supportive clergy, in the predominantly
African-American areas to reinforce these endorsements and help repel the
exposed wedge attempts on the part of the Maryland Marriage Alliance and their
sponsor the National Organization for Marriage.

When the happy numbers rolled in on
Election Night, it was very obvious the strategy of strong outreach to African-Americans
paid off.In predominantly African-American
Baltimore City, the pro-Question 6 folks outnumbered the opponents by 57% to
43% margin.In Prince George’s County
where so many advocates feared that blacks would vote overwhelmingly against
Question 6, opponents outnumbered supporters by a scant 3,000 votes out of
nearly 370,000 cast.

Marriage equality supporters also held
a majority in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Frederick, Howard and Montgomery
counties.The remaining jurisdictions in
the state, which are largely white, opposed the measure.It is apparent that age and political
leanings were more of a factor than race.One could argue that we won not in
spiteof the black vote but because of it.

On this point, Delegate Mary
Washington, the first out lesbian African-American legislator in the state’s
history and a powerful leader in achieving marriage equality in Maryland, told
me: “The truth here that should never be forgotten by our national and local
LGBT advocates is that on Question 6, the African-American voters carried the
day well above conventional wisdom and without which we could not have won this
historic victory.It is my hope that
what we have done in Maryland is to begin to put to rest one of the
longstanding quivers in the arsenal of the anti-marriage crowd and end
race-based discrimination and avoidance in our own equality movement.”

I always thought that blacks were
given a bum rap on this issue.Although
there is clear resistance to marriage equality among churchgoing
African-Americans, other ethnic groups are generally non-supportive as
well.They include Hispanics, Asians,
Muslims and Orthodox Jews. Those white Catholics who adhere to their hierarchy’s
dogma have consistently opposed same-sex marriage.

Those who are so-called socially
conservative have done the same.That
explains the lack of support for Question 6 in the rural, traditionally
conservative jurisdictions in the state.

Ethnicity aside, I believe the real
opposition is in the older members of population.Surely the younger voters under 30 support
marriage equality and LGBT rights in general in a big way, and in due course,
they will constitute the overwhelming majority.

Other states are poised to attempt to
legalize same-sex marriage via the ballot box.But as Mary Washington points out and the post-election numbers support,
the results in Maryland should finally dispel the myth that African-Americans
universally oppose marriage equality.

Monday, November 26, 2012

When you think of a big-time,
splashy, iconic musical such as Mame,
you imagine (or recall) it unfolding on a grand stage of a Broadway
theater.You also picture colorful
scenery, period costumes, a huge orchestra in the pit and a terrific storyline with
a memorable musical score.Mame ran on Broadway from 1966-1970 for
over 1,500 performances and garnering three Tony Awards (Angela Lansbury, Bea
Arthur and Frankie Michaels) and was nominated for five other categories.

So when Fuzz Roark, artistic
director for the Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre, booked the show for the
friendly confines of that venue during its 51st season, one can
appreciate the challenges that awaited him and his staff.But the courageous Roark and company pulled
it off.The production of Mame at the Spotlighters plays big in
the little theater that could.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

The spirit of Christmas in more
ways than one is alive and well at Toby’s, the Dinner Theatre of Columbia.Charles Dickens’ beloved classic 1843 novella,
A Christmas Carol, with its familiar
characters featuring Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim, Jacob Marley and
various ghosts of Christmases—past, present and future—is presented onstage in
a fanciful and entertaining musical production.

A Christmas Carol with music by Alan Menken,
lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and book by Mike Ockrent and Lynn Ahrens was a fixture
each holiday season at the Paramount Theatre in New York’s Madison Square
Garden from 1994 to 2003.Menken is an
eight-time Oscar-winning composer of Disney’s
Beauty and the Beast and The Little
Mermaid.

David
James (who also plays Crachit) directed A
Christmas Carol at Toby’s with a skillful touch.The Helen Hayes winner staged a magnificent,
well-paced production managing a large cast through the musical numbers, special
effects and costume changes on Toby’s in-the-round venue.

Many
of the characters’ good attributes as well as shortcomings in A Christmas Carol related in some manner
to Dickens’ own life’s experiences that included struggling to make ends meet and
witnessing his father hauled off to debtor’s prison while he was a young lad in
London. The imaginative story centers on
the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge (played superbly by David Bosley-Reynolds) and his
Christmas Eve to Christmas Day evolution from when he began as a mean, arrogant
and friendless soul to one that ended up as a caring, generous human being
embodying the true meaning of the Christmas holiday spirit.

This
extraordinary transformation in Scrooge’s personality was accomplished through
the eerie nocturnal visits from three ghosts: one representing Christmas Past
(Heather Beck), one from Christmas Present (Ray Hatch) and one from Christmas Future
(Julie Lancione).Through song and
dialogue, these ghosts pointed out Scrooge’s failures, the effects of his
actions, and the consequences that could occur in the future.

While
the music isn’t stellar overall, a few songs stand out (“A Place Called Home,” “Fezzwig’s
Annual Christmas Ball” and the Finale).The lyrics worked well, along with the dialogue and actions on stage to
spin the tale.

Splendid
vocals added to the joy.As Marley, Andrew
Horn’s tenor voice excelled in the wonderful production number “Link By Link.”Elena Crall who played Emily, Scrooge’s one-time
love, displayed a beautiful soprano in “A Place Called Home.”And Bosley-Reynolds as Scrooge had some
strong moments, particularly in “Yesterday, Tomorrow and Today” late in the
second act.

Pamela
Witt conducted the five-piece orchestra and did a great job backing up the
singers and dancers.The sound quality
overall in the show was perfect.Drew
Dedrick made sure the right balance took place so that the singers were not
drowned out by the orchestra, and dialogue was clearly audible. Coleen M. Foley handled the lighting expertly
conveying the right effects for the appearances of the ghosts.

Many
clever props and furnishings are used onstage and are a strong asset to the
show.Street vendor carts, bank teller
windows and a dancing skeleton add to the joy.A clock on a façade, though not visible to some in the audience,
provides a terrific effect of the ghost’s faces projected on it when the ghost
of Marley warns Scrooge of the three visitors he should expect overnight.

But
of all the acclaim this show deserves, there is none better than the
extraordinary costuming designed by Lawrence B. Munsey.A veritable fixture at Toby’s who has performed
every function through the years except perhaps preparing the beef stroganoff as
part of Toby’s superb buffet, Munsey meticulously designed 1840-era early
Victorian costumes for the large cast.And with many playing multiple roles, Munsey had to have created over a
hundred such glorious costumes.

Toby’s
tight, well-staged production of A
Christmas Carol is great theatre, and it spins the right message as to how
the spirit of Christmas and the holiday season in general ought to be.

Running
Time: Two hours with a 20 minute intermission.

_______

A Christmas Carol plays through December 30
at Toby’s, the Dinner Theatre of Columbia, 5900 Symphony Woods Road, Columbia,
MD 21044.Tickets can be purchased by
calling the Box Office at 410-7390-8311 or 1-800-88TOBYS or online.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

I must confess I didn’t believe what
occurred on the night of November 6, 2012 would ever happen.Marriage equality failed all 32 times it had
been decided through state ballots, and I didn’t get that warm and fuzzy
feeling that this time it would be any different.

I did not have confidence early on in
Marylanders for Marriage Equality—the organization with a diverse array of
coalition partners who assumed the lead to defend the Civil Marriage Protection
Act against a referendum by opponents who rapidly amassed three times the
number of signatures needed to place a minority’s rights up for a popular
vote.

The planning for a likely referendum
fight began late, in my view.A former
staffer told me that the campaign was fritting away too much time and money on
getting “pledges” signed.

HRC brought in their people to get the
effort started and ultimately hired Josh Levin as the Campaign Manager.

Early polls looked too good to be true
and were shrugged off by many.Yet, a
national trend towards public acceptance of marriage equality was unmistakable.

Things started to break, however.President Obama went public with his support
following Vice President Biden.Former
President Bill Clinton did likewise.Democrats
installed marriage equality as part of the party’s platform.

Governor O’Malley championed the cause
following years of uncertainty as to how equality should be achieved.He was a true leader during this fight,
persuading wavering legislators to help pass the bill and then traveling around
the country to raise needed funds for the battle ahead.

But according to a report in the Baltimore Sun, the campaign was having
trouble as late as August in raising the necessary funding.Delegate Maggie McIntosh stepped in to handle
the Campaign’s strategic decision-making and asked former Gov. Ehrlich’s
chief-of-staff Chip DiPaula to persuade Evan Wolfson of the national
organization Freedom to Marry to jump in with monetary support.He did.

Marylanders for Marriage Equality
ultimately raised nearly three times the amount of money than the opponents—a
total of $6 million.There was
speculation that the Church of the Latter Day Saints who donated tons of money against
marriage equality during California’s Prop 8 battle decided to sit these four
marriage contests out lest they hurt Romney politically.

The Campaign developed a sophisticated
infrastructure for executing a potent ground game using nuts and bolts grass
roots efforts. The “Vote For 6” signage
had a great design—eye-catching and recognizable in their blue and white
scheme.

They oversaw a superb ad campaign that
mostly featured religious leaders and straight individuals to validate the
cause.The Campaign developed direct
mail and TV advertisements featuring Julian Bond, Revs. Donte Hickman and
Delman Coates, Todd Schuler, and Presidents Obama and Clinton.They enlisted the public support from
celebrities, such as the Ravens’ Brendon Ayanbadejo and actor Josh Charles to
win the hearts and minds of voters regardless of sexual orientation, political
party, race, age, gender, religion or ethnic background.

Their efforts were bolstered by all
the thousands of volunteers in and out of the campaign’s organization who knocked
on doors, engaged strangers, family members, neighbors and co-workers,
participated in phone banks, raised and contributed funds and developed
innovative methods for getting the message out.

I began to feel more confident on
Election Day as I worked the polls at Clarksville Middle School.Not only were voters pronouncing their
support for Question 6 but did so with intensity and enthusiasm.Sure, there were opponents—some of them even
rude.But the overwhelming majority (63
percent in actuality) appeared to be on our side, and it gave me hope that
perhaps later that night there would be cause for celebration.

That momentous night, when the voters
re-elected President Barack Obama, the most pro-LGBT president ever, we were
creating another headline.For the first
time in U.S, history, Maryland, Maine and Washington succeeded via the ballot
to legalize same-sex marriage.Minnesota
beat back an anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment.Moreover, six LGBT candidates were elected to
Congress, including for the first time, an openly lesbian person, Tammy
Baldwin, who was elected to the U.S. Senate.

In Maryland proponents of marriage
equality defeated the forces who would deny the legal, economic and social
benefits that marriage equality would confer by a 52-48 margin or more than
90,000 votes.

A review of the election results
should lay to rest the myth that African-American voters are the key to
marriage equality defeats.Both sides
were clearly courting African-American voters, but the pro-equality side’s
messages of fairness broke through.

The president’s support as well as the
National NAACP’s endorsement had to be huge.And the testimonies offered by African-American pastors Donte Hickman
and Delman Coates on TV ads were received very positively.This helped reassure voters that religious
institutions would not be affected by the law and fairness for all was
underscored.

We don’t know yet how the black vote
went, but the fact is that Baltimore City with Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake
as a key advocate had a sizable plurality for Question 6, and Prince George’s deficit
was much smaller than anticipated.Consequently,
the recent hateful comment by a pastor stating gays and supporters “are deserving
of death” most likely did not sit well with fair-minded voters regardless of
race.

Governor O’Malley, the gay and lesbian
members of the legislature and their colleagues who voted for the bill and
defended it during the referendum battle deserve much praise and gratitude.

Josh Levin and his team should be
applauded for ultimately getting the job done. The 200 coalition partners, such
as HRC, NAACP, SEIU, ACLU, Equality Maryland and PFLAG as well as leading
clergy were instrumental in this battle.

All the volunteers and contributors including
the 2,000 poll workers on Election Day and those who began this fight and laid
the groundwork for success should be thanked.

And most of all, thanks to all of you
for coming out to vote and making November 6, 2012 a historic milestone in the
history of LGBT rights.

Wednesday, November 07, 2012

I must confess I didn’t believe what
occurred on the night of November 6, 2012 would ever happen.Marriage equality failed all 32 times it had
been decided through state ballots, and I didn’t get that warm and fuzzy
feeling that this time it would break that skein.

I did not have confidence early on in
Marylanders for Marriage Equality—the organization with a diverse array of
coalition partners who assumed the lead to defend the Civil Marriage Protection
Act against a referendum by opponents who amassed three times the number of
signatures needed to place a minority’s rights up for a popular vote.This organization appeared too guarded, too evasive
and too elusive for my taste as I am a “severe” proponent of transparency. More on them later.

With this effort affording gays and
lesbians perhaps the one last shot at marriage equality in Maryland in a
generation, I believed that nothing should be left on the field.I was particularly disappointed by the
squeamishness of some elected officials who had built-in persuadable
constituencies and multiple platforms and tools available to vociferously laud
the virtues of equality and fairness.

These politicians—especially
Democrats—had all the cover they needed.President Obama went public with his support following Vice President
Biden.Former President Bill Clinton did
likewise.The Democratic Party installed
marriage equality as part of the Party’s platform.

The President, in particular, had much
more to lose as he took on this political risk.A pronouncement in support of same-sex marriage could have hurt him with
conservative Democrats in swing states.But he had the guts to do it, proving once again what a true leader he
is and offered a blueprint as to how to become one.He was astutely aware that this issue was trending positively across the
nation.

Governor O’Malley championed the cause
following years of uncertainty as to how equality should be achieved.He, too, was a true leader during this fight,
persuading wavering legislators to help pass the bill and then traveling around
the country to raise needed funds for the battle ahead.

Instead, these other elected officials
were quiet supporters but supporters nonetheless. To use a baseball analogy, it’s akin to a
batter needing to hit a two-run homer to win the game but wound up with a
double, putting runners on second and third, and leaving the potential heroics
to the next guy.

Well, that “next guy” came through.

First, Marylanders for Marriage Equality
raised nearly three times the amount of money than the opponents.They developed a sophisticated strategy for
executing a potent ground game using nuts and bolts grass roots efforts as well
as solid use of social media.They
oversaw a superb ad campaign that mostly featured religious leaders and
straight individuals to validate the cause.They enlisted the public support from celebrities as well to win the
hearts and minds of voters regardless of sexual orientation, political party,
race, age, gender, religion or ethnic background.

Their efforts were bolstered by all the
volunteers in and out of the campaign’s organization who knocked on doors,
engaged strangers, family members, neighbors and co-workers, participated in
phone banks, contributed funds and developed innovative methods for getting the
message out.

I began to feel more confident on
Election Day as I worked the polls at Clarksville Middle School.Not only were voters pronouncing their
support for Question 6 but did so with intensity and enthusiasm.Sure, there were opponents—some of them even
rude.But the overwhelming majority
appeared to be on our side, and it gave me hope that perhaps later that night
there would be cause for celebration.

That momentous night, when the voters
re-elected President Barack Obama, the most pro-LGBT president ever, we were
creating another headline.For the first
time in U.S, history, Maryland, Maine and Washington
succeeded via the ballot to legalize same-sex marriage.Minnesota beat back an anti-gay
constitutional amendment.Moreover, seven
LGBT candidates were elected to Congress, including for the first time, an
openly lesbian person, Tammy Baldwin, who was elected to the U.S. Senate.

In Maryland proponents of marriage
equality defeated the forces who would deny the legal, economic and social
benefits that marriage equality would confer by a 52-48 margin.

I thank everybody who helped make this
historic struggle in Maryland a reality.I especially thank Governor Martin O’Malley for his leadership in the battle
along with all the legislators who supported and voted for the Civil Marriage
Protection Act. The gay and lesbian
members of the legislature were particularly effective in their efforts. And a special thank-you goes to Sen. Allan
Kittleman, a Republican, for his vociferous and unyielding support for marriage
equality.

I thank Josh Levin, campaign manager for
Marylanders for Marriage Equality and his team, for ultimately getting the job
done. I thank the coalition partners, such as, HRC, NAACP, SEIU, ACLU, Equality Maryland and PFLAG
as well as leading clergy for their superb work and commitment.

I thank all the volunteers and
contributors who walked that extra mile.

I thank all those who began this fight
and laid the groundwork for success.

And most of all, I thank you, the voters,
for coming out to vote and making November 6, 2012 a historic milestone in the
history of LGBT rights.

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About Me

This blog contains a compilation of recent articles--mostly political and local theatre reviews-- appearing in MD Theatre Guide, Baltimore OUTloud, Washington Blade, Gay Life, Outsports.com, published letters, and commentary. My letters to the editor have appeared in such publications as TIME, USA Today, Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, Columbia Flier/Howard County Times, City Paper (Baltimore)and Washington Blade.
NOTE: No individual postings may be reproduced without written consent by me.
I have a wonderful partner who has been the love of my life since February 1980. I married my partner July 23, 2009 in Provincetown, MA--our first and favorite vacation spot.
Comments are welcome directly on the blog.
Find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/Steve.Charing) and follow me on Twitter (@SteveCharing).